Beloved of God,
I am writing to you (yet) from the Visitation Monastery in Tyringham, Massachusetts, as I near the end of what has been a very wonderful novitiate year. The Sisters of the Visitation of Holy Mary have begun, together with over 150 Visitation Monastery’s throughout the world, the celebration of the 4th Centenary of their founding by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal in Annecy, France, on June 6, 1610. I am very much looking forward to sharing in the celebration of their historic anniversary and most especially to the Holy Mass that will be celebrated by Bishop Timothy McDonnell, here at the monastery in Tyringham, this June 6, 2010!
The Catholic Observer, the newspaper of the Springfield, Massachusetts diocese, in honor of the Order’s 400th anniversary, published a beautiful insert, a copy of which is enclosed for you. You can see that I had the enormous gift of being with the Sisters on their trip to Annecy last July, and join them daily here in their beautiful chapel (last white veil on the right ☺) for the Liturgy of the Hours, Holy Mass, Holy Hours and other prayer times. I could fill half a book with the story of how I came to spend this year with this particular Order, but, for now, just a couple of happy recollections.